Redemption
by MoonAtNoon
Summary: When Edward left, Bella grew a pair and moved the hell on! Six years later, he finally tracks her down, but what kind of reception will he get? Post New Moon/AU/Very OOC/Lang/Drug use
1. Chapter 1

**Redemption**

**Chapter One**

_**Edward POV**_

"Alice, are you sure you saw her _here._ This hardly seems like the kind of place Bella would go." I asked, gazing up at the decrepit, broken weather-board covered house before me. I could smell her impossible sweet scent coming from within it but it seemed so surreal to be this close. Six very long years had been spent combing the whole country for one girl, thanks to her father and werewolf friend refusing to give me her exact location.

But here we are, me and my adoptive sister—the only one who still held out hope that Bella was alive despite not being able to see her in visions for the past five and a half years.

Bella slipping off Alice's radar was what finally broke my resolve and brought me back. She wasn't dead. I could feel that much in my bones. Charlie confirmed that fact the day I returned but even his thoughts didn't give me her location.

Jacob Black, her new best friend, gave very little away in his thoughts either. The boy had started phasing after we left, the gene was clearly passed down to him from his grandfather, he was also well informed about my gift and tried his best to keep his thoughts private. Unfortunately, it worked, for the most part.

All I got was that he didn't expect Bella to ever come back to Forks. And that he blamed me entirely for that.

So I searched for her blindly. At first all my family helped; then slowly, one by one, they lost hope.

Not surprisingly, Rose was the first to accept defeat. Then Jasper followed a few months later, pretty much tearing a line between him and Alice. They were still _together _but contact had been almost completely lost, especially over the past two years.

Carlisle still had faith that I would find her eventually but he lost the drive to search himself, tagging along until Esme couldn't keep looking and failing any longer.

For a long time it was just Alice, Emmett and I, until last year just before Christmas when he finally cracked; apologizing profusely, before sprinting off east where the others were now living in New York state. I had been expecting it for weeks when his thoughts stopped just centering around and actually fixated on Rosalie, and how much he missed her.

So now it was just the two of us in Georgia, standing outside a rundown house that Alice had seen in her first vision of Bella in half a decade. It was a shock, but we didn't waste time staring disbelievingly at each other, rather, we raced from Nevada to La Grange in under a day to find ourselves where we stand now. Outside Bella's possible _home._

"You've seen it replayed a thousand times, I know this house as well as I do any of ours," She turned to me then and laid her hand firmly on my shoulder. "Edward, I can _smell _her. She's here or has been recently. I'm not leaving without checking, we've come too far and I won't leave one stone unturned." Only in her thoughts did I hear what she couldn't bring herself to say out loud. The main reason why she was pushing so hard. _I've ruined my marriage to stay with you, it won't be for no reason, I won't let all of this end without succeeding. _

Her thirst darkened eyes dropped and a short but detectable sob rattled her breath. _We _have _to find her, Edward. I can't have lost everything for no reason. _

I slipped one arm around her shoulders and swiftly pulled her to me. She just let me hold her for a minute then cinched her own arms around my waist.

"I'm not stopping until I find her, then I'm going to make sure everything works out for you too. Just like you are for me. I want to tell you again, you can go home any time you like. You've done much more than I could have wished." I dipped my head forward and gently kissed her inky black hair.

Just as Emmett had, Alice was losing it. Every day out here looking was dragging her down into depression. She needed Jasper and I could tell that soon she wouldn't be able to keep moving further away. It had been four years since they'd laid eyes on each other, two since they'd spoken on the phone and about a month since they'd texted each other.

She'd break soon. But not today. Today we had hope and it was just a few feet away in the faded green house.

_**Bella POV**_

The morons were laughing again.

Well _again_ wasn't really an accurate word since they never actually stopped. I tossed down my third copy of _The Merchant of Venice _(The other two were torn apart by the boys to roll joints with) then angrily slipped off the bed and charged over to the door.

The music was blaring and I think it was Matt singing along to the relaxing tunes of _Die Motherfucker Die _by _Suicide Commando, _judging from the girly tone when I was the only female currently in the building.

I stalked around the corner and walked right into a marijuana mushroom cloud that was seeping out the living room doorway.

"Do you think you could keep the fucking noise down? It's one in the morning and some of us are not tripping on E!" I had to shout just to be heard over the music and Matt's bitch voice while he growl-sang.

"Hey, Bell," Luke tilted his head back to look up at me and grinned dopily. "Wanna toke?" he asked, holding a coke-bottle bong up to me.

I frowned down at him for a minute then shook my head quickly. "No!" I declined. It didn't matter how many times I said no they still offered. It was almost sweet seeing as drugs and alcohol were the only thing they owned and they were willing to share.

"Frankie, is it?" I looked over to the visitor that had arrived yesterday afternoon. He looked up and nodded so I guessed I was right. "Great. Well Frankie, I don't know what you were taught was acceptable but while you're here could you _not _piss in empty bottles then _leave _them on the floor? The toilet works." Even as I said this there was a bottle of piss on the floor by his feet. Something I could praise the guys on was their relatively good hygiene. They showered at least once every other day and didn't piss on the toilet seat. They used the bin and to date I've never found anything moldy anywhere.

Their friend's weren't so great.

"Sure. Hey, do you think you could get me some chips or something? I've got the munchies… or something," He then tried to sweeten the request with a yellow toothed smile. I swallowed back the bile that rose to my mouth and nodded silently as I left.

Normally I would have told him to get it himself but I was a little afraid of what more intense _charm _might bring if I refused.

I grabbed the first pack in the big bag they were kept in and was about to leave when I spotted the full trash can. Again, _normally_ I would have taken the food to the recipient then emptied it but the garbage was surely cleaner than this guys insides. So I tied up the bag and took it with me back into the living room where I tossed the packet across the room and into Frankie's lap.

"Wait, you don't have any Doritos?" he whined, looking down at the bag of Cheetos in his hands.

I growled under my breath as I put down the trash bag and walked over to him.

"You want Doritos?" I snatched the chips off him and ripped open the bag. "Make them into Doritos." I grabbed a Cheeto and squished it flat between my palms. "There! A fucking Dorito!" I threw the crumbling Cheeto at him and stormed out, snatching up the trash bag on my way out the front door.

The cool November air hit my body hard when I stepped onto the porch. Hard and refreshing compared to the overheated and smoky humidity of the house. I took a deep breath and slowly walked down the three steps, around the house to the trash cans by the driveway.

It was quiet out here, the nearest house wasn't even within sight of ours. So I was especially wary when I felt something watching me on the walk back. Instantly my heart started to race, the hairs on the back of my neck and forearms stood up as fear worked through my veins.

Everything was too dark to rely on visual detection so I put all my focus on listening for something approaching as I slowly walked back to the steps. A hissing sound like a snake reached my ears when I got to the bottom of the concrete stairs, causing my eyes to drop to the ground, looking for the creature before I moved my feet. When I didn't see anything on the steps I raced up them quickly on my tip-toes like you do when you're a kid coming up the basement stairs.

My hand grasped the screen door at the same moment as I heard the scratchy gate open behind me. Heart beating in my throat, I wretched the door open and used it to swing myself around to the hallway, trying to get it shut behind me—preferably _before _the axe-wielding maniac slashed my spine apart.

The cold hand of death gripped my wrist as I inevitably fell through the door, and surprisingly stopped me from hitting the threadbare carpet I'd been speeding towards.

"Twenty-four years and you still can't run on your own two feet." An amused, silky smooth voice teased. I spun to look at my attacker; if I did survive I would want to have a face to give to the police sketch artist.

But the face that came into view was that scary that I only got a glimpse of it before I passed out in shock. The glimpse was just long enough to spark the light of recognition.

Alice Cullen.

She had found me.

**So what do we think? Who wants a reconciliation? Who wants to see Bella stick it to the man? Who's just bored and wants me to fucking update already? :P**


	2. Chapter 2 Hiatus

Hey guys,

Some of you already know this, but for those who don't, two weeks ago I had my first child (Kirsten).

... yeah, this is going where you think it is...

I, naively, was under the impression that I would actually have time to do things while she was sleeping. But it turns out that I barely get enough time to clean up before I have to do everything all over again once she wakes up. Writing doesn't even cross my mind most days. With an average of about four hours sleep a night and the same throughout the day, a constant RIVER of relatives passing through, excessive amounts of washing, and general child care, I get about thirty minutes a day to scratch my ass and that time is usually filled with a shower.

They say it gets easier, so I'm gonna go ahead and pre-emptively estimate that by June I might be able to spit out something for you guys. But no _promises._

I hope no one's overly pissed. I'll get around to it eventually, even if 'eventually' is in five years when my little one's in school :P

Thanks,

Ally xx


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